Professor of Nuclear Engineering
Academic Division: Energy, Fluids and Turbomachinery
Telephone: +44 1223 7 48553
Email: gtp@eng.cam.ac.uk
Research interests
Professor Parks heads the Computational Design Group in the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre, which researches into the application of advanced optimisation methods to difficult real-world problems in a wide variety of application areas including aerodynamic, nuclear and structural engineering, in the development and application of multiobjective optimisation methods, and in the effective exploitation and integration of optimisation methods within the Engineering Design process.
Professor Parks is also a member of the Future Nuclear Systems group which focuses on the analysis and design of potential future nuclear reactor systems and fuel cycles, especially from the reactor physics, thermal-hydraulic and fuel management perspectives. The group has particular interests in the exploitation of thorium-based fuels both in current (Gen 3+) and future power generation technologies, in the development of reactor modelling methods, and in other applications of reactor technology: civil marine propulsion, radioisotope generation, and space applications.
Research projects
Multi-objective Optimization Capability for Heterogeneous LWR Fuel Assemblies and Cores; AGR Technologies for Enabling Molten Salt-cooled Reactor Designs; Design Optimization of a Centrifugal Pump; Application of Dimension Reduction in the Robust Design of Turbomachinery Components
Teaching activity
- 4M16 (Nuclear Power Engineering)
- 4M17 (Practical Optimization)
- NE1 (Reactor Physics)
Biography
Geoff Parks received his BA in Engineering in 1984 and his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1989, both from the University of Cambridge. He is now a Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Cambridge. He is a Fellow of Jesus College where he was a Director of Studies in Engineering from 1993 to 2019. He served as the College’s Sciences Admissions Tutor from 1997 to 2007 and as Director of Admissions for the Cambridge Colleges from 2003 to 2012. He was the Jesus College Senior Tutor from 2012 to 2022.
Geoff was a trustee of the Social Mobility Foundation from 2008 to 2019 and a trustee of the Engineering Development Trust from 2005 to 2014.